Naruto: Spirit In The Dark
by Sonata-Time-Flare-Nocturne-Aoi
Summary: Story Complete! Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai are sent on a dangerous mission in the mysterious Anyō Forest. Little did they know that are about to discover a not-so urban legend lying in wait deep within. Humor and suspense ensues. Non-canon, pre-time-skip continuity. Rated T.
1. Chapter 1

**Story**: Naruto: Spirit In The Dark  
**Author**: Master Jin Sonata  
**Written**: October 7th, 2019  
**Genre**: Humor/Suspense  
**Rating**: T (Violence, Language)  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or its motley crew of ninja lost in a forest.  
**Author's Note**: This story does not follow canon or continuity. Assume all characters here are in their pre-time-skip ages.

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**Main Entrance to the Anyō Forest, Unknown Region**

The leaves in the trees blew softly when the three teenage youth entered the forest, the very place where killing of thieves took place, and possibly the confrontation of an urban legend.

"This forest is vast and deep. It would be smart if we split up," said Sai as he surveyed the area.

"That's a terrible idea," said Sasuke. "Let's stay together."

"Why should we? It's not like we can't handle ourselves," said Naruto.

"What I'm saying is, is that it would be safer if we stayed together, because I'm still not completely familiar on what this region has in store."

"Really?" Sai said quite un-amused at Sasuke's excuse. It was really quite unlike him.

"Given the pattern of decisions you two have taken in the past, if we went our separate ways, then Sai would probably take the left path, Naruto would take the right, and I'd probably be stuck taking the small, secluded path straight down the middle," Sasuke explains, rolling his eyes. "Furthermore, every time we get separated, something always goes horribly wrong, jeopardizing the mission at hand."

"Wow, you know us better than we do! But worry not, if anything gets in my way, they will feel the pain of my Ninjitsu magic," said Naruto, giving a confident thumbs up at the two. Sasuke turned to him.

"Overconfident as always," Sasuke commented dryly. "What else are you going to surprise me with?"

"Well, Sai's already gone, for one thing. I admire your observation though," said Naruto.

Sasuke immediately turned around to see that he had indeed taken his leave, without saying a word even!

Rude...

"Looks like he took off down the path you just said he'd mostly likely take," Naruto pointed out.

Sasuke groans. "At least he could have told us before he left, right Naruto…Naruto? Hey, where are you?" yelled Sasuke, who had turned around to see that he was gone also. He managed to spot some dirt that was kicked up down the path where Naruto made haste toward.

"Shit!"

He let out an audible groan as he started down the only path that was left to be explored, which was none other than the secluded path.

Something bad was going to happen, Sasuke could feel it.

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**Please review and keep watch for new chapters as this fic is updated constantly!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Inner Anyō Forest, Unknown Region - ****Sai's Path**

The shinobi made his way through the rugged trail, slicing away at rogue bushes with his sword. As he carefully scouted the area, he was only greeted back with silence. This was very suspicious, as crickets can usually be heard during the night in the area.

"I better not let my guard down, because something is a-miss around here," he said to himself.

Sai gripped his sword and slowly continued up the trail. The rainfall from just before they all had arrived had already completely drenched the plants and tree branches that hung in his way. Every slash he made at the greenery, he was greeted back with a slap of cold water. Looking for a place to stop and wring out his jet-black hair, he slipped on something that was left on the ground and landed on his rear with a thud. Without delay, he pulled out the thing that got in his way.

It was an old book.

"Hey, what's this book doing out here in the middle of the…" he started. Then it hit him.

"Can this be the same book that was from the story Danzo once told me as a kid?" he thought.

The story was of a spirit girl who wandered through the forest with a powerful magic book that become lost here during the ages. He didn't remember the whole tale, only pieces from memory.

"Nah, it can't be." Sai looked carefully at the front cover. It was blank. Sai tried to open the book, but it wouldn't budge. It was sealed shut.

"Odd, what good is a book if you can't even open it up and read it?" he said to himself.

He then looked at one of the corners of the cover. There was a small groove carved into it.

"I've got to find the others," he said, getting up from the moist soil.

"_Giiiive…meee…thaaaat…boooook…"_ a deep voice groaned from behind Sai. The shinobi turned around to see who was speaking to him. There was nobody there.

"Come out and show yourself," Sai yelled back. He neatly stored the book away in the pocket of his jacket.

"_Give…me…the book!"_ bellowed the voice again. Lightning raced across the wet sky; long enough for Sai to look up and see a flock of birds fly away from a tree somewhere back down the path. Determined to see who was calling out to him, Sai backtracked toward the area of the peculiar sounds, and stopped next to a rather odd looking tree.

It was a tall and foreboding looking tree, but... it was completely devoid of natural color. It looked...pale, like himself.

"Hey, wait a minute…I've never seen a tree with gray leaves before…" Sai started…

**WHACK!**

…before he was suddenly slapped hard high into the air by one of the tree's branches.

**CRASH!**

Sai landed in some shrubs several feet away from the scene of the attack. After regaining his composure, the shinobi slowly lifted his head to see that very tree slowing dragging its way toward him, roots and all.

The tree was indeed possessed.

"Oh…shit!" was all that came from Sai's neutral-looking face as the enormous evil wood-monster encroached upon him.

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**Inner Anyō Forest, Unknown Region - ****Naruto's Path**

"Man, there is nothing out here!" exclaimed the orange-clad ninja.

Naruto had literally sprinted to the other end of the forest path and back in a matter of minutes, finding no signs of anything suspicious anywhere along the way.

"Maybe the Hokage had too many drinks or something for sending us here to find nothing. What's the point of coming out here in the first place?" he thought out loud, before stopping dead in his tracks. Naruto looked up into the trees to see a glimpse of a shadow that was watching over him.

The figure then leaped away from sight.

"I don't know who that is, but it sure isn't getting away from me," Naruto said, pulling out a kunai before pursuing the mysterious person.

The figure was very fast. It actually took Naruto some effort to chase on after it as he darted through the trees and over several of the tall branches high above the ground. After giving some chase, he then followed the figure down a very steep incline, dodging more obstacles that were in his way. He had eventually reached the lowest point of the forest.

However, the person, or thing he was chasing, was nowhere to be found.

"Dammit! This is the first time anyone has ever gotten away from me," Naruto yelled out loud. Looking around for any clues the suspect might have left, the ninja spotted something bright partially sticking out from the ground.

"Hmm…and what's this?" he wondered, as he bent down to pick it up.

Once it was in his grasp, he brushed off the dirt to reveal a unique looking gemstone. It glittered with tiny speckles of blue and white crystals. Briefly setting aside his frustration from the figure that got away, he smiled at the thought of how much this would be worth, or if it somehow had any special powers locked deep inside of it.

"Look at this! At least I got something worthwhile out of this investigation," he said to himself while he grinned with satisfaction.

Naruto was about to slip it in one of his pockets, when the same shadowy figure he was chasing earlier came out of nowhere, swiping it right off of the ninja's hands and fleeing the scene.

Naruto's expression quickly turned vengeful as he resumed the pursuit of the one who took his rock.

Darting through the winding trees and large bushes once again, Naruto was beginning to gain up on the thief, determined not to let him get away.

"Get back here you rock-stealing bastard!" Naruto yelled again as the figure then leaped high into the air onto a large nearby tree branch. It looked like it was going to escape again, but the ninja acted quickly. He tucked away his kunai and instead pulled out an average-looking shuriken.

"Take this!" he shouted. He tossed his trusty weapon upward toward the branch. Halfway before contact, the small projectile suddenly transformed into a giant fearsome looking Fuma shuriken. The blade effortlessly sliced through the branch, causing the person to instantly fall onto the ground with a thud. Naruto ran up and lifted the person off the ground by its collar.

"Who are you? What's the big idea trailing me and jacking my stuff?" demanded the ninja.

"Ugh, if you let go of me, maybe I'll tell you," the person said.

"First, hand over the rock," Naruto said holding out his hand.

The person did as he said.

The ninja set aside the stone in a place where no one would dare to reach for it: his back pocket.

"Now, who are you?" Naruto demanded.

"The name's Ryōgi, from the Land of Snow," the young man said, forcing his way out of the ninja's grasp but opting not to flee.

"Wow, you're rather far from home. Tell me, what are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" he questioned the red-headed shinobi.

"I was on my way to see my fellow Byakuya gang members," Ryōgi said, brushing himself off. "They sent out a distress signal, so I came to see what they've been up to. Of what concern is it to you?"

"My team and I are in the middle of an important mission here," Naruto responded.

"Is that so? Then you've heard of the 'Legend of the Spirit Girl'? Ryōgi questions.

"What? That old wife's tale that Sai's old clan believes in? Give me a break!" Naruto scoffed at the idea of ghosts being out here, before slowing turning back to Ryōgi with a slightly worried look on his face "You really think she's out here?" he asked with a nervous laugh.

"We don't know for sure, but other shinobi neighboring the region have been saying that they have seen something odd roaming around here in these woods. So my pals and I decided to split up and check it out."

Ryōgi thought for a second, and then came up with an idea.

"Say, how about I join you in this little search? Besides, two heads are better than one. What do you say?" Ryōgi offered.

"Whatever, I'm not sure if you'll find anything worthwhile to take back like I did. Just don't complain if you can't keep up with me," Naruto said before taking off toward the forest entrance.

"Yeah right, I believe it was you who had a hard time keeping up with me!" Ryōgi shouted back as he followed suit.

Naruto had found both an unexpected alley and mysterious stone on his path. What awaits the others in their search?

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**Please review and keep watch for new chapters as this fic is updated constantly!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Inner Anyō Forest, ****Unknown**** Region - ****Sasuke's Path**

"This is ridiculous..." Sasuke grumbled as he trudged along his trail. He had it the worst, as the road was really bumpy, he got scratched-up by several sticker bushes, and almost got lost several-times-over.

"I'm supposed to be here on some important mission, and I'm stuck in the middle of the night searching for some hackneyed fairy tale. I don't mind working for the Hokage, but the lack of mission details is unacceptable!" Sasuke ranted to no one but himself.

About to turn around and attempt to re-trace his footsteps, Sasuke suddenly bumped into something that was in his way. To his surprise it was a young girl. The girl looked up at Sasuke and giggled.

"What the hell? Hey, what are you doing out here all by yourself? Are you lost or something?" questioned Sasuke.

She was wearing what looked like a pale nightgown. Her skin was very pale, but her large, emerald eyes and very long black hair stood out. She was very pretty looking.

This caught Sasuke's attention.

"Say, what's your name?" asked the girl. Sasuke scratched his head and answered.

"I'm Sasuke, a shino…" he started before removing the 'shinobi' part out so it wouldn't scare her.

"What's yours?" he asked back.

"Kahna," she said softly, smiling at him as if she showed some interest in him.

That stopped him dead in his tracks.

"…I'm sorry, but I could have sworn you told me your name was Kahna."

"Um, that's right," she responded, a bit confused.

"How...odd. I must be overthinking things. Surely this can't be the girl from that 'Spirit Girl' story Sai told of a while back," he said to himself.

Regaining his composure, he turned his attention back towards her.

"So, what are you doing out here all by yourself? Don't you know there may be criminals lurking out here?" he asked. The girl ran her fingers through her hair before answering.

"Yeah, but I've lost something very important to me. Can you help me find it… that is… if you're not busy right now?" she asked kindly.

"Uh…yeah, I guess," said Sasuke, who was still suspicious on why, of all times, had this coincidental preteen approached him in the first place in the most secluded of places all by herself looking for something that might not even be found.

Before he could even attempt to try to put 'two and two' together, Khana had already taken him by the hand and had started dragging him off to search for her missing something. Somewhere in the forest, these two didn't seem to hear it, but a familiar voice could just be barely heard from almost anywhere.

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**Inner Anyō Forest, ****Unknown**** Region - ****Sai's Path**

"Get away from me you evil tree demon!" Sai shouted as he attempted to fend off the ferocious tree.

The wood creature continued to swat and whip the shinobi into the ground with its sharp, rugged branches. Feeling that he couldn't take any more thrashings, Sai quickly stopped the next swing of the evil tree's branch with his bare hands, which bled from the tree's sharp needles. He quickly tossed aside the branch and rolled to safety.

It was time to use some of his special skills.

"I don't know where you came from, or what you intend to do with this book, but you're not getting it from me!" Sai growls as he reaches for a scroll that was attached to his waist and opens it. Then, whipping out a paint brush, he quickly draws out a strange creature onto the cloth. Once he had finished, it bursts to life as the creature jumps from the material into real life, flying into the sky creating bolts of lightning from its body.

Lightning began flashing more frequently than ever as stormy weather began to surround the forest. Then, long chains of thunder shot towards the ground where Sai and the tree stood. Sai then reaches for his sword and raised his sword, causing the next bolt to target his blade. A blinding flash followed. When darkness returned, the shinobi's sword illuminated a rich gold aura. Sai grasped the hilt and charged straight toward it.

"Be gone!" he yelled, as the tree prepared to knock him away once more.

But Sai had the upper hand.

He tree attacked once more, but the ever-ready shinobi dodged it and jumped onto its branches, and began running up toward the top where the leaves were. Unable to reach him, the tree tried to shake him off, in hopes to throw him off balance. This worked, but as Sai fell towards the ground, he swung his now electrified blade at the tree, slicing it in half with a single stroke. The crackling of the electricity made a deafening noise.

The voice from within the tree let out a painful scream as the whole body slowly started to disintegrate from top to bottom.

Sai landed on the ground hard. He had had enough of this game. Flipping back up onto his feet, he took off down the wet path, not looking back to see if that thing was going to disappear for good or not.

"I'd like to see Sasuke handle lightning like that!" Sai said with a grin of satisfaction as he ran.

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**Please review and keep watch for new chapters as this fic is updated constantly!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Main Entrance to the Anyō Forest, ****Unknown**** Region**

Naruto and Ryōgi had arrived back at the entrance of the forest. Naruto looked around for any signs of his comrades, but saw nothing.

"So, what now?" asked Ryōgi.

"I guess we wait for the others to report back," Naruto responded.

"Think they'll be alright?"

"They'll be fine. I mean, it's not like one of them will come running down the path in total distress or anything."

As if on cue, they turned around to see Sai stumbling down the trail towards them, looking like he was attacked by something big and tough. The shinobi heaved as he stopped in front of the two.

"Oh man, Sai! What happened to you?!" Naruto said, running up to him.

"I got…my ass kicked…by a damn tree," he said, stumbling onto Naruto to prop himself up and regain his composure.

"You're…kidding, right?" asked Ryōgi.

"Does it look like I'm kidding?" Sai said, showing then the several cut and slash marks on his chest, face, and hands. Sai then looked up at Ryōgi in suspicion. He looked straight at the young man's red shoulder-length hair and grey eyes with black pupils.

"You, let me see the palm of your right hand," Sai demanded, his tone becoming more serious as he straightened himself up.

"Why? I don't have anything you'd probably want," he said, refusing the shinobi.

Without hesitation, Sai reached out and grabbed his hand, turning his palm upward so he could see it.

"This is the symbol of the Byakuya Gang! And your outfit also signifies it," Sai said angrily. "You bastard, I thought you guys were all jailed for deceiving the public and stealing money from neighboring lands!"

"What do you mean, jailed?" Ryōgi questioned the accusing Sai.

"Don't you know? Members of your gang are infamous for stealing for their own gain and tricking people to believe that your acts are just. I don't know why Naruto would even trust someone as slimy as your clan, but you're going to jail along with the rest of your gang!" Sai said, pointing a finger at Ryōgi.

"Sai, hold on a sec, this guy is here to help us out on our mission! You mean to say he's a bad guy all along?" Naruto said in disbelief, looking at both guys back and forth.

Before anyone could add onto the confusion, a bright-bluish-white bean was shot from the secluded path, hitting Ryōgi right through his left shoulder. He lets out a yelp in pain and dropped to his knees as blood began to trickle down the wound.

Sasuke was back. He marched up toward Ryōgi and pointed his hand straight at the Byakuya shinobi.

"I got you now. I don't know why you of all people are out here in this forest, but I sensed your chakra instantly!" Sasuke grinned, as he held his ground.

Naruto turned around and looked at him.

"What the heck? You know who he is too?!" Naruto said in shock.

"Oh great. Now I got another one here to criticize me. This isn't my day," Ryōgi grumbled.

"Sasuke! You wish to eliminate this low-life as well?" said Sai, turning to his teammate.

"Yes. My clan were once assigned to track down every member of their clan. They reported that a few escaped. Looks like it's our lucky night," said Sasuke, as he prepared to charge his chakra to execute another attack.

"But there's no time for this, guys! We're on a mission after all. Can't this wait?!" Naruto protested, raising a fist at both Sai and Sasuke.

Without listening to Naruto, both Sai and Sasuke start to close-in on Ryōgi.

However, they suddenly stopped when the voice of another person came from down from Sasuke's path.

"Hey! Why did you take off so fast like that?" complained the girl as she finally managed to catch up with Sasuke.

Both Sai and Sasuke lower their offense. Ryōgi gave a sigh of relief.

"Who's the girl?" asked Naruto. Sasuke turned around to realize that he'd had took off and left her behind a ways after he had spotted Ryōgi in the vicinity.

"Oh...uh…sorry," Sasuke said to her.

"It's okay!" she said with a forgiving smile.

"You won't believe this, guys, but she says her name is Kahna," the Sasuke informed the three.

"Kahna? That sounds like the girl from that legend!" said Ryōgi, thinking back.

"You can't be serious. This isn't the time to be pulling our legs," Sai said.

"But it's true, it is my name!" said the girl, walking up to them.

"What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?" Sai asked, crossing his arms.

"I…I am looking for my book that I lost a long, long while ago. Have you seen it?" Kahna asked.

Sai lifted his eyebrow as he pulled out the book from under his outfit and showed it to her.

"Is this it?" Sai asked.

Kahna's face lit up with delight. She ran up to him and grabbed the book from his hands, and hugged it tight.

"Oh thank you! I've been looking all over the place for my beloved book!" she smiled as she looked at the book's cover.

Her expression suddenly changed.

"Hey! There was a little white crystal in the hole on the corner of the cover!" she said, looking at the empty slot. "What did you do with it?" she asked eagerly.

Sai scratched his head. He didn't have any crystals. Naruto, on the other hand, reached into his back pocket, and grabbed a white gem from it and showed it to her.

"Is this it?" asked Naruto as he walked up to her.

"That's it! Where did you find it?" she asked, placing the gem back in the book's cover. It was a perfect fit.

"Oh, I just found it lying in the dirt somewhere," said the orange-clad shinobi. "I was going to check if it had any cool powers or value, though."

Sasuke now gave a suspicious look to the girl.

"So, this was what you've been looking for. Just one question, what is the title of this book?" asked the black-haired shinobi.

"Um…it's called 'The Book of Spirits', Kahna said.

Everyone eyes, even Ryōgi's, flew open.

"Uh, guys…is it just me, or is this all too coincidental? Sasuke said, darting an eye towards the others.

"Coincidental? This is unbelievable! You know what happened next in the 'Legend of the Spirit Girl', don't you?" asked Sai.

"She opened the book, and an evil spirit possessed her, I think," said Ryōgi. "Am I right?"

"Bingo," said Sasuke.

Everyone looked at each other in silence for a brief second.

They then all yelled in panic.

"Story or no story, stop her from opening that book!" Naruto yelled to the others.

All four young men quickly surrounded the girl, who held onto her book tighter than ever, not knowing what they were going to do to her.

"W-what are you guys doing?" Kahna said a bit frightened.

"Kahna, I'm sorry, but we need you to hand over that book to us, now!" said Sai. She naturally refused.

"No, it's mine!" Kahna said, looking for an opening to make her escape.

"That book is dangerous! You don't know what lies within the pages!" said Sai as he took hold of the book. The two started a tug-of-war for possession of the book.

"Let…go, its …mine!" Kahna shrieked, before losing her grip. She let go of the book and fell to the ground.

The force from the last tug caused Sai to accidentally toss the book over his shoulders. Everyone looked back in horror to find the book lying on the ground…open.

Everyone was silent. Nothing happened. No weird flashes of light, no supernatural occurrences.

The book just sat the on the ground.

"Well…I guess the legend was just a plain-ol' bedtime story," said Naruto.

With the guys distracted, Kahna took a chance and ran for her book. She scooped it up and turned back toward others.

"What's wrong with you guys? First you help me find my book, and now you want to take it?" Kahna said. Her eyes began to water.

"Well, we just thought that…well you see…" Sasuke started, trying to think of an explanation.

Out of nowhere, thick fog was starting to settle into the forest.

That's when they heard an ominous voice.

**"_Are you in danger, my child?"_**

Everyone froze.

Where did that voice come from?

"These guys tried to steal you from me!" Kahna said to her book.

"Um…guys... did that book just talk just now?" Naruto asked with unease.

The voice answered the girl's response.

**"_Then let me protect you once more. Let's do away with these humans the same way as we did with those conniving thieves hundreds of years ago."_**

"Okay," said Kahna, as the book slowly lifted away from her hands, and stood afloat in the air right in front of her. The writings within the hardback started to glow brightly as both the girl and the book are instantly consumed by a huge flash of light. The light slowly began to encircle the area, and was heading straight towards the group of guys.

"Oh….shit!" everyone said in unison.

"Do something!" Ryōgi yelled, shaking Sai back and forth in panic.

"Do I look like a damn' Ghostbuster to you!?" yelled Sai, pushing Ryōgi off of him.

"Well you're as pale as one, at least," Naruto said with a nervous smile, trying to make light of the moment.

"Naruto, shut up!" Sasuke said, before his voice was consumed in the phenomenon rapidly engulfing them.

Within seconds, the light completely swallows up the whole group, along with the whole forest as well.

* * *

**Please review and keep watch for the final chapter, as this fic is updated constantly!**


	5. Chapter 5

**The Spirit Realm**

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes. He felt very weak and dazed, not quite sure what had happened. Once his eyes were able to focus, he looked around and realized he was not in the forest anymore. Thick white fog stretched out as far as his eyes could see. Even more astonishing was the fact that, when he finally looked down, he was floating mid-air above a surface-less plane.

"Huh…where the hell am I?" Sasuke said weakly.

Wherever Sasuke was, this new place was slowly draining the life force from him.

"Where…are…the others…?" he wondered.

"_**Welcome to my Spirit Realm,"**_ said a feminine-sounding demonic voice from behind him.

Sasuke forced himself to turn around. He looked off in the distance to see someone drawing near him.

It was Kahna. No…she wasn't the same Kahna he met in the forest. She was transformed into a young adult. Her long black hair is now completely white, which fluttered aimlessly behind her head. Her large, green eyes were now a menacing shade or purple and red. Her silky white gown she was wearing was gone, for orbs of light covered her nudeness. In her hand, she carried the very same book that must have done this to her.

She gave a seductive smile as she floated towards him.

Sasuke didn't like what he was seeing.

"Spirit Realm? Who are you? What did you do to Kahna, and where are the others?" Sasuke demanded.

The otherworldly woman cackled as she stopped in front of him.

"_**My name… is of no importance to you. I am the essence of the crest bounded in this book. Your friends put up a disappointing fight while you slept…they are here with me now…and I must thank you…for your efforts in reuniting me with this girl's body. Soon, I will consume her very being…and she will be nothing but an empty, soulless shell."**_

"You've taken over that girl's body? For what reason?"

"_**I entrusted the one man…who would find me the perfect body for me to take refuge in…until my powers are fully restored." **_

"One man? What are you talking about? Why are you doing this?" Sasuke asked, as he could feel himself growing weaker by the second.

The question made the creature stop for a second and think.

"_**I am doing this because I want to. The more spirits I consume…the longer I live. Once I'm back to my normal strength…the world's energy will be mine!"**_she said laughing.

"You're not going to get away with this!" yelled Sasuke, as he made an attempt to lunge out at her to attack, but failed.

"_**Oh, this is just the beginning. I have already absorbed the life-force of your three friends here."**_

The sprit waved her hand, causing Sai, Ryōgi, and Naruto to appear right in front her. All three of them floated lifelessly in front them.

"Let them go, now!" Sasuke yelled.

"_**Hmph, if you wish. I don't matter to me…because you're going to become one with me anyway."**_

She pointed her finger at Sasuke, which caused the bodies of his comrades to float towards him. Ryōgi and Sai's body floated to his sides, while Naruto stopped in front of him. The shinobi's cache of weapons bumped against him.

This gave him a brilliant idea.

Sasuke opened Naruto's bag and began to rummage through his countless ninja-style weapons, until he spotted the very item he needed. He looked up at the creature.

"Hey, bitch, according to the legend, the sage who stopped you before used something like this," Sasuke said, pulling out a strip of paper with a bunch of Japanese calligraphy on it.

"_**You fool! That trick may have worked then, but it won't do you good now. I have built up an immunity to those flimsy spirit-sealing spells. That can never hurt me."**_

"We'll see about that," said Sasuke.

With all of his might, Sasuke flung the hard, magical piece of paper at her. Only this time, he wasn't aiming at the woman's' body like the sage did in the story, but the crest within her book. The paper spun around at a high velocity, before slicing right through the crest. She let out an agonizing scream as a stream of energy rushed out of the crest, and into the bodies of the three guys. One by one, they slowly regained consciousness. In desperation, the spirit woman put her hand over the crest, trying to seal up the hole

Sai shook his head and looked around.

"Oh god, are we still here in this place?" he said, turning to the others.

Naruto was next to wake up. He turned around to Sasuke, who had his weapons cache.

"Sasuke! How did you manage to free us from her grasp? And wait, are those my weapons?" he asked.

"Yeah, I thought for sure we were doomed after that bitch relieved us of our souls," said Sai.

"I think we need to worry more about escaping here first," said Sasuke.

Ryōgi opened his eyes; as he was finally awake himself.

"What the hell's going on here? I though this whole story and everything was just a legend!" Ryōgi said, trying to get his bearings.

"Well apparently not, and trust me, even I still can't believe it!" said Naruto.

"So what's the plan? That woman looks like she's in pain now," said Sai.

"You mean she's on her…" Naruto began to state out loud.

"NO!" everyone else shouts in unison.

"Ahem. What else is there left to do? Since our strength seems to be returning to our bodies, let's kick her ass!" Ryōgi suggested.

"You should know better than that. Remember when we tried to attack her head on last time? We went right through her. Then after that, she removed our souls, nearly killing us," Sai reminded him.

"Yeah, Sasuke was lucky he didn't face the same fate we did," said Naruto.

"Do what I did," said Sasuke. "Let's destroy the book and the crystal."

"Don't mind if I do. I'm more than ready to leave this place and get back to our own world," said Ryōgi.

Putting his energy behind him, Sai floated towards the woman, who looked like she was almost finished with the restoration of the crest. Aiming for the book, he motioned himself to slice the book in half, but missed, for she had noticed him and had dodged his attack. Everyone else followed suit. Naruto readied his kunai, Ryōgi readied a small blade, and Sasuke charged his chakra. All of them lunge themselves towards her from all directions.

"_**Oh no you don't!"**_ yelled the woman, as she grabbed hold of Sai once more to drain him of his life once more.

This was the perfect opportunity.

Ryōgi took hold of the book as Naruto slashed the book in two with a single stroke of his kunai. Sasuke finished the job by unleashing Chidori upon the crest. Upon impact, the crest exploded into millions of pieces. The spirit woman screamed as she released the samurai from her grasp.

"Yes! We got her," cheered Ryōgi.

The Spirit World began to distort. The white fog that surrounded them started to turn blue, then black.

Everything around them was deteriorating.

"What do we do now? We got to get outta here!" said Naruto in a panic.

"Look! There's our chance!" said Sai.

Off in the distance, a hole appeared amongst the mist. The opening led straight back into the forest.

"Let's go!" commanded Sasuke. The four made their way towards the exit, not looking back to see if the woman was making any attempt to stop them. They were successful. The portal immediately closed shut as the last person made their way out of that strange realm.

It was over.

* * *

**Hokage's Office, Konohagakure**

It was the next day. Kakashi had called Sai, who was the only one available at the time, to give him a full report on what had happened that night.

"I'm relieved to see you and everyone else back safely from that investigation. My ANBU Black Ops team saw the phenomenon from afar. What did you discover out there?" Kakashi inquired.

Sai told him everything. From the findings of the book, the crystal, and the girl, to the events in the Spirit Realm. Kakashi cleared his throat.

"Fascinating. So then, the 'Legend of the Spirit Girl' is true…and the Spirit Realm…why is this all happening now?" he questioned out loud.

"I'm just as clueless as you. Apparently, this spirit was locked inside a gem, until the girl released it. That spirit wanted to consume the souls of everyone in this world just to keep itself alive. What happened to her after we escaped her world is beyond me," Sai responded.

"Hmm…I see. We need to alert the neighboring lands of this incident as soon as possible," Kakashi said. "Oh yeah, what's the status of the others?" asked Kakashi.

"Well, Ryōgi, a dishonorable thief who happened to be in the area, is being questioned for the reason he was in the forest at the same time as us. I haven't heard anything else about him since, but I doubt he'll be in any serious trouble, he did help us out after all. Sasuke, meanwhile, is at the infirmary, watching over Naruto who is still out cold from exhaustion."

"I see. That's rather uncharacteristic for him to care so much for Naruto like that. Thank you, that'll be all. Your team will be compensated for a job well done. You are dismissed," said Kakashi, as Sai exited the office.

* * *

**Infirmary, Konohagakure**

Sasuke entered the room where Naruto was resting. Alongside of him was Sai, who was applying a warm cloth on his forehead.

"So, he's still out, huh?" asked Sai.

"Yeah. I don't blame him. It was a rough night last night," said Sasuke, who got up and walked up to the shinobi.

"Tell me about it. I think I'll add this to the list of strange and unexplained things that has happened to me in my life," Sai responded with a chuckle, breaking his normally stoic expression for a moment.

Sai then looked down at the orange-clad shinobi, who was snoring loudly.

"What should we tell him when he wakes? He might go blabbing everything he saw to the villagers faster than I can throw a shuriken at a not-so intelligent wall," Sai commented.

"Don't know if that was a good analogy or not, but I doubt the Hidden Leaf villagers would believe him anyway," Sasuke responded as he started to leave the room.

He stopped and turned back to Sai.

"We'll just tell him it was all just a dream."

* * *

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